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carolyn guest biography
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[Biography] [Gallery]
Lived: 1953 - present
GAP Member Since: 1994-06-25
Type: papercutting, wycinanki, silhouettes, commissioned art
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459 Old Concord Road
St. Johnsbury VT 05819
USA
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Untitled
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Carolyn Gorham Guest began cutting as a preshcooler at the kitchen table.
For years the cutting was more utilitarian...for things like cake decorating stencil,
quilting and embroidery patterns or winter snowflakes to hang in the windows.
This was the traditional use for papercutting in Vermont.
In 1976 her 4-H experiences gave her the opportunity to represent Vermont on the
International 4-H Youth Exchange Probram.
At age 22 she left her first teaching job to spent six months living and working
on farms in Poland.
While their she was introduced to the Polish Folk Art of Wycinanki or papercutting.
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This has taken her back to Poland and many other places to stuedy with papercutters
and other Folk Artists. Carolyn is an artist, a preschool teacher and continues her
international interests both through church missions, 4-H and Papercutting.
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Cows
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Papercutting has become a way for her to tell about her experiences, the stories
she has heard and reflects her rural Vermont heritage in papercut pictures.
Carolyn continues to challenge herself by seeing what she can cut using her sheep shears.
She has chosen to cut with sheep shears in tribute to her Polish teachers and the
women who only had sheep shears to cut "wycinanki" with.
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Her work has been shown in many GAP traveling exhibits, in Poland, in gallery
exhibits and shows around the USA. She frequently teaches and demonstrates the
art for groups of all ages including at Fletcher Farms School For the Arts and
Crafts in Ludlow Vermont, The Vermont Historical Societies "Vermont History Expo"
and The Plymouth Nothch Historical Site (President Coolidge birthplace); youth
organizations, and service groups. She has demonstrated the art for the Carol
Duval Home and Garden Show, local television in Vermont and Poland and written
for the GAP new letter "Firstcut".
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All of her cuttings are original and hand cut with sheep shears.
Many of her cuttings are in private collections, displayed in galleries and several
have been published.
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Carolyn has attended GAP Collections in Maryland and Colorado,taught workshops
for GAP gatherings and hosted the Vermont leg of the 1999 New England Fall Papercutting tour.
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Special Honors include:
- One of ten Vermont artists commissioned by the Vermont Council of the Arts and VT.
- Department of Agriculture to design a work of art for "Ten Artists View of Vermont Agriculture" a 2002 traveling Art Exhibit.
- One of five Vermont artists asked to make a bird ornament for the 2002 White House Christmas tree.
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Memberships:
- Guild of American Papercutters
- Northeast Kingdom Artisan Guild
- Vermont Crafts Council
- Vermont Folklife Center juried artist
- International 4-H Youth Exchange of USA
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featured artist
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references
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